6
The Mystery
OF
Carney-Croft
By
JOSEPH BROWN COOKE
(Copyright, 1907. by Btor/-l'r«i» Corporation.)
CHAPTER XV.—Continued.
"Well," I said, thoughtfully. "Dr.
MacArdel put her through a course of
spouts that made a strong, hearty man
faint away twice, and yet she never
said a word nor moved a muscle."
"How delightfully interesting!" said
Miss Weston. "I should never have
dreamed from her appearance that
she had so much fortitude. What could
Dr. MacArdel have done that was so
thrilling?"
"Oh, he didn't do much," 1 returned.
"He just asked some questions about
the things that had been going on, but
he did it in a way that was very ef
fective. We wanted to learn who wrote
the mysterious note that I had receiv
ed on the night of my arrival. We
found out that she did it, but it was
only by chance and not through any
thing that she told us. If she had
been a little more clever in delivering
the other I am afraid we would be
in the dark about it yet."
"And so this Mrs. Bruce really wrote
them both, did she?" asked Miss Wes
ton, with continued interest. "What a
horrible creature she must be!"
"I don't believe she is exactly horri
ble," I saw!, cautiously, "but she cer
tainly wrote the second note, and who
ever wrote that one must have written
the first as well."
"Wouldn't it be interesting if some
more would come!" cried Miss Wes
ton, enthusiastically. "1 think it
would be the greatest fun in the
world!"
"You might change your mind if it
really happened," I said with a smile.
"These things are well enough after
they are explained, but before that
time, they strike one rather seriously,
as I know from experience."
"Well, I'd be willing to try it just
for once," said Miss W r eston, confi
dently. "I'm simply crazy to see what
a real good mystery is like at first
hand."
As I chanced to move my plate a
foJded paper was disclosed and I
hastily slipped it into my lap and
read' it surreptitiously. It said:
"You have not kept Miss Carney and
her friends away. Do not be surprised
if the ghosts return."
"Your wish is granted. Miss Wes
ton," I exclaimed, holding it up in my
hand. "Here is one of the spook notes
this very minute. It is under my
plate."
"Oh, do let me take It!" she entreat
ed, and I imssed it to her by way of
Miss Carney, who read it thoughtfully
before handing it to her friend.
The moment Miss Watson saw the
paper a most unaccountable thing oc
curred. Her face blanched and she
swayed In her seat for an instant as
if in danger of falling, but regaining
her self-control in another moment, she
exclaimed:
"How silly I am! This ridiculous
note made «ie quite dizzy for a minute.
Where did you say you found it, Mr.
Ware? Under your plate, here at the
table? Why, some one must be play
ing a joke on us all!"
"No doubt," I returned, watching her
closely. "Hut it may prove to be a very
serious joke. You see, a thing of this
kind is more startling than one would
expect. I've grown rather used to it
myself, but you seem to be quite up
set over it."
"Oh, it's just for the moment," said
Miss Weston, with a forced laugh. "I
didn't get much sleep last night and
this thing came on me so suddenly
and unexpectedly that it quite took my
breath away."
A moment, later she left the table on
some trivial pretext, and Miss Carney
called the butler, who had left us to
our coffee before this conversation be
gan, and questioned him closely as to
the affairs of the morning. He said that
he had laid the plates himself not long
before we came down to breakfast and
that while he had not been in the room
all the time he was positive that no
one could have entered without his
knowledge.
"It looks as if you must have slip
ped it under your plate yourself, Mr.
Ware," said Miss Carney in a banter
ing tone that ill betokened her true
frame of mind. "There doesn't seem
to be any other explanation. And do
you really think the ghosts will come
back again? I shall not let you go away
until they ere permanently suppressed,
you may be sure."
"I know I appear to be guilty," I re
plied with a laugh, "but I assure you I
am not. You are merely having a taste
of the same mysterious phenomena
that I myself saw here last summer. I
cannot say whether the ghosts will re
turn or not, but I scarcely think they
will. If they do, we know where to
goto discourage them."
"But how do you suppose the note
was placed under your plate?" asked
Miss Carney, in an anxious tone. "I
don't like this sort of thing at all! It
makes me dreadfully nervous."
"I haven't the slightest idea," I said,
frankly, "But 112 am sure we will find
out all about it before long. You know
the other nojf's seemed very mysteri-
ous at first, but we soon explained
them without the slightest difficulty."
As I said these words I thanked my
lucky stars that 1 had taken the pre
caution to keep Miss Carney in ig
norance concerning the cigar case and
the odor of the rags that we found In
Jenks' possession. For my part, the
mystery of Carney-Croft seemed to be
growing deeper and deeper, and yet I
felt it my duty to my hostess to make
as light of the matter as possible, es
pecially in the presence of her other
guests.
After breakfast Miss Carney and I
walked down toward the river to
gether and passed the spot where Mac-
Ardel had questioned Jenks and the
widow.
"This is where you saw the ghosts,
Isn't it?" asked Miss Carney, with a
little nervous shudder.
' Yes," I replied, "and we could have
captured them, too, if we had not been
so sure that we already had bigger
game in our hands."
"I do hope they won't come back
again," she said with a shiver. "I'm al
most as much upset over it as Annie
was. But she is not at all well, Mr.
W r are. Do you know, I really think she
is growing weaker and weaker every
day. Her spirits keep her up and all
that, but she certainly hasn't the
strength she used to have."
"I suppose that is why the note af
fected her so," I returned. "You re
member, she was actually calling for
some ghostly manifestation only a mo
ment before, and yet you must have
noticed how completely she lost her
head when I found the paper."
"But not until she had read it," said
Miss Carney. "She didn't seem to
mind it at all until then, you know."
"It almost seemed to me that she
recognized the writing," I said guard
edly. "Did you ever see it before?"
I handed Miss Carney the note,
which was in the flowing hand of the
Widow Bruce as MacArdel and I had
"I Cannot Tell You Now."
seen It on that eventful night in the
summer. She studied it carefully for
some time and then said:
"No, it is totally unfamiliar to me.
I hardly think that Annie knows any
thing about it, either. It was merely
her weakness that upset her, Mr.
Ware. You cannot realize how feeble
she is."
We returned to the house as the
moring mail arrived and it chanced to
be handed to me for distribution. As I
sorted over the letters I came across
one for Miss W r eston and it was ad
dressed in the now well-known hand of
the Bruce woman and had been posted
in the village the day before. I stuffed
it in my pocket without comment, and,
when I had an opportunity to hand it
to its owner, she returned my signifi
cant glance with a look of such pathet
ic appeal that I knew she was inno
cent of any wrong doing, and that, at
the most, she had become unwillingly
entangled in this almost unfathomable
mystery, which seemed to grow from
hour to hour.
CHAPTER XVI.
From Another Angle.
Miss Carney knew nothing of the
letter that Miss Weston had received
from Mrs. Bruce, and when I saw her
again, just before luncheon, she ex
pressed great concern over her friend's
condition.
"Do you know, Mr. Ware," she said
anxiously, "Annie was dreadfully up
set over that note this morning. She
has shut herself in her room all day
and even refuses t.o see me. I have
just tried to persuade her to come
down to luncheon, but she won't do it,
and says she doesn't want anything
sent up,' either. She has so little
strength now that it worries me to
have her go without her meals in this
way, and then, she has been crying,
too, which is very bad for her and a
thing that she almost never does, i
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1907.
could tell by the way she spoke and
when she opened the door to answer
me she wouldn't let me see her face."
"Perhaps she is a trifle ashamed of
her ignominious collapse at the table
this morning after she had expressed
so much bravery only the moment be
fore," I suggested. "She was evident
ly deeply affected all of a sudden, you
kno\fc."
"Yes," said Miss Carney, soberly,
"and I don't understand it at all. But
I am sure she knows nothing about
the writing. How could she, Mr. Ware,
when I cannot recognize it myself? It
was just a nervous attack, of course,
but I wish she did not take it so seri
ously, for the least little thing uses
her up so."
Nothing was said at the luncheon
table about the affair of the morning,
and Miss Weston's vacant chair seem
ed to give an air of gloom to the
whole party.
In the afternoon I wandered about
the grounds by myself, to de
cide what I ought to do. The quan
dary I was In was not one to be easily
surmounted, for, while I realized that
my duty to Miss Carney, as well as
my own personal inclinations in the
matter, called upon me most impera
tively to clear up this mystery prompt
ly and at any cost, I was still con
vinced that Miss Weston's share in
the affair was entirely unexpected by
her and due to no wilful act of her
own, and the pathetic appeal in her
eyes when I handed her Mrs. Bruce's
letter was enough to make me pre
serve her secret faithfully for the
present at least.
It was beginning to grow dark as I
turned togo back to the house and,
when about half way up the "ghost
walk," as we had jokingly named the
path that led to the river, I saw Miss
Weston coming slowly toward me. She
must have heard my step at the same
instant, and, looking up, she hastened
to my side and laid her hand on my
arm while her bosom rose and fell, her
eyes filled with tears, and her form
trembled with suppressed emotion.
"Oh, Mr. Ware," she whispered,
"you were so good this morning not to
let any one see that letter. It was so
foolish of them to send it in that way,
right through the mail, though there
was only a chance that anyone but a
servant would have seen it. You won't
tell of it,. Mr. Ware? I know you
won't," she sobbed softly. "I beg of
you, Mr. Ware; I beg of you, do not
speak of it for a few days at least.,
until I can find out what should be
done."
I led her to a seat by the side of the
path and tried to calm her with reas
suring words, but her nervousness
seemed only to increase.
"I cannot tell you now what I know
about it all," she went on, wiping away
the tears that flowed freely down her
face. "Oh, it's too terrible even to think
of, and yet no one has done any
wrong. You must trust me implicitly,
Mr. Ware, and the time may come
when I can tell you everything. But
not now. I even know very little about
it myself, and that little chills the very
blood in my veins. May God forgive
me," she murmured; "it is all my
fault, and yet I have done no wrong.
You must believe that, Mr. Ware, as
you would believe your own senses,
and trust me in everything, or I shall
go mad!"
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Goto England to Marry.
Every year from 800 to 1,200 couples
goto England from the continent,
mostly from Germany, to get married.
To comply with the conditions of the
English law the bride usually comes
over first, stays one night in a hotel
and gives notice of the marriage on
the following day. Then the man ar
rives and the ceremony takes place.
It is generally by license, as other
wise both would have to be in Eng
land fo r fouc weeks.
la the Sailors' Friend.
Sixty thousand sailors look to H. A.
Hanbury for advice and for protec
tion. Mr. Hanbury i; the United
States shipping commissioner frv the
port of New York. He is the sailors'
Judge and Jury. The men who sign
011 foreign craft now must appear be
fore him for their papers instead of
going to the consuls of the various
countries. He decides all disputed
questions between the tnen and their
Bailing masters. Many of the abuses
of 'these men that formerly were com
mon, such as compelling them to buy
their outfits from the ship owners or
captains, have been done away with
under Mr. Hanbury's rule. His office
is on the Battery park. New York,
where he easily can reach all the
ships leaving that port.
INSURANCE INVESTMENTS.
How One Company's Assets Are Dls
tributed In the South and West.
In connection with Its withdrawal
from Texas, along with many other
companies, rather than to submit to
the new law which requires that 75%
of the reserves on Texas policies shall
be Invested in securities of that state,
which securities shall bo deposited in
the state and subjected to heavy taxa
tion, in addition to the large tax now
Imposed on life insurance premiums,
the Equitable Life Assurance Society
has made public the distribution of its
assets, at th 3 end of the second year
of the new management. The Equit
able now has $10,958,000 invested in
Texas, which is twice as much as the
new law requires, but the manage
ment decided that to submit to the
additional taxation would be an injus
tice to its policyholders In other
states, which impose no such penalty
on the thrift of their citizens.
The Equitable's report shows that
more than 37% of its total reserves
are now invested in the southern and
western states, while only 35% of its
total insurance is carried in these
states. Its investments are distributed
as follows: Ala., $3,099,000; Ariz.,
$974,000; Ark., $4,038,000; Cal., $5,-
142,000; Col., $3,222,000; Fla., $4,924,-
000; Ga„ $4,048,000; Idaho, $5,197,000;
111., $12,617,000; Ind. Ter., $413,000;
Ind., $6,53G,000; lowa, $3,690,000; Kan
sas, $11,637,000; Ky„ $2,631,000; La.,
$3,054,000; Md., $2,207,000; Mich., $6,-
009,000; Minn., $2,065,000; Miss., $767,-
000; Mo., $8,197,000; Mont., $1,890,000;
Neb., $7,526,000; Nev., $640,000; New
Mex., $1,376,000; N. C., $1,649,000; N.
D., $077,000; Ohio, $11,634,000; Okla.,
$1,006,000; Ore., $1,158,000; S. C.,
$975,000; S. D., $1,305,000; Tenn., sl,-
909,000; Utah, $2,134,000; Va„ $6,592,-
000; Wash., $1,202,000; W. Va., $5,523,-
000; Wis., $2,342,000; Wyo., $3,367,000.
New Austrian Railway.
Hitherto tourists from the United
States who chose the southern trip to
Europe left the steamer at Gibraltar
or Naples, but many, chiefly those
who had already been in Italy, now
come to Trieste and continue from
here their voyage by the new Aus
trian railway. There can hardly be
a more beautiful country than tho
regions which are made accessible by
this new Transalpine railroad. The
new railway is owned by the state,
and is 130 miles long. There are 49
tunnels, with a total length of ten
miles. There are 50 bridges, one of
which, across the river Izonzo, has
the longest stone span in the world.
There are, besides, as many as 678
smaller bridges and viaducts. —Con-
sular Reports.
New Automatic Rifle.
The self-loading or automatic musk
et is nn* being seriously considered
as the infantry arm of the future. The
equipment of the great armies of the
world with an improved rifle is hardly
completed when the mechanics begin
work on a new weapon. At the recent
examinations of the German War
Academy the automatic rifle was one
of the themes for discussion. The
piece now on trial has a magazine
holding ten cartridges; the recoil is
utilized to load and cock. Consequent
ly the soldier can remain quietly in
position, never removing his eye from
the target, and fire his ten shots.—
New York Sun.
COFFEE COMPLEXION.
Many Ladies Have Poor Complexions
from Coffee.
"Coffee caused dark colored blotches
on my face and body. I had been
drinking it for a long while and these
blotches gradually appeared, until
finally they became permanent and
were about as dark as coffee itself.
"I formerly had as fine a complex
ion as one could ask for.
"When I became convinced that cof
fee was the cause of my trouble, I
changed and took to using Postum
Food Coffee, and as I made it well, ac
cording to directions, I liked it very
much, and have since that time used
it in place of coffee.
"I am thankful to say I am not ner
vous any more, as I was when I was
drinking coffee, and my complexion is
now as fair and good as it was years
ago. It is very plain that coffee caused
the trouble."
Most bad complexions are caused
by some disturbance of the stomach
and coffee is tho greatest disturber of
digestion known. Almost any woman
can have a fair complexion if she will
leave off coffee and use Postum Food
Coffee and nutritious, healthy food in
proper quantity. Postum furnishes
certain elements from the natural
grains from the field that Nature uses
to rebuild tho nervous system and
when that is in good condition, one
can depend upon a good complexion
as well as a good healthy body.
"There's a Reason." Read, "The lioud
to Wellville," in pkgs.
MACHINE-MADE HYPNOTISM.
Clever Mechanical Devices That Will
Produce Sleep.
It has long been recognized by ex
perts in hypnotism that the hypnotic
sleep is induced by the subject him
self. All that the operator can do is
to persuade the patient that he has
ability to produce the sleep. Any me
chanical device that will cause the be
lief that sleep is inevitably approach
ing will do as well, and a number of
these are now in use by physicians
who resort to hypnotic suggestion in
the treatment of nervous affections.
Some of them are described in the
Technical World Magazine by John
Elfreth Watkins. We read:
"One of the newest of these me
chanical aids employed by the hyp-
A Machine for Inducing Hypnotism.
The Little Knob Claims and
Holds the Subject's Attention.
notlst is the 'hypnotic ball.' It might
be mistaken for the half hour of.an
hour-glass mounted upon a short
handle of ebony. It is, in fact, a glass
ball, half-filled with sand, and having
a bottle-mouth, into which the wooden
handle fits snugly. Stuck into the in
terior extremity of this handle —the
end protruding inside the ball —is a pin,
whose head extends to the center of
the transparent globe. The sand is
dyed a bright indigo blue, as is the
globular head of the pin. Thus we
have a little ball—the pinhead—with
in a larger transparent one, and be
tween the two, a bright colored pow
der.
"The subject concentrates his eyes
upon the pinhead, while the ball, held
at about the height of his head, is re
volved by the operator with both a
circular and rotary motion within a
foot of the subject's eyes. The ro
tary manipulations cause the sand to
fall like a cascade behind the pin
head.
"Thus there are three movements —
circular, rotary, and vertical —all in
tended to puzzle vision as it inquisi
tively follows the ball.
"In this way the ocular muscles be
come quickly fatigued, the influence
being an exaggeration of the soporific
stimulus caused by the rapid flight of
the landscape past a car window, or
the rapid change of environment view
ed from a rapKly moving swing. That
which fatigues the ocular muscles, of
course, favors sleep, and physiological
drowsiness is but the vestibule to the
hypnotic state. The eyelids becom
ing heavy, the skilled hypnologist has
but to command 'Sleep!' and the sen
sitive is then ready to abide by his
will."
Other mechanical aids are: The
"electro-hypnotic head-band"—a rub
ber band, clasped about the forehead,
A NOVEL FORM OF TELESCOPE.
Comfort While U sing the Unilens.
A novel form of field-glass or tele
scope of a remarkably portable and
liandy description, has been invented
by Major Baden-Powell, F. It. A. S.
It consists of a single convex lens,
2Vi inches in diameter, mounted in a
metal rim, and may be carded in the
waistcoat pocket. The mount has a
small clip and screw, enabling the
lens to be attached to a walking-stick
or umbrella.
The invention is thoroughly practi
cal, and with it a large view of dis
tant objects may be obtained, the
maximum magnification being about
four diameters.
The "unilens" is the most efficient
when mounted on a walking-stick and
held at arm's length, as the further
it is held from the eye the greater tho
magnification.
holding a tiny Incandescent light be
tween the eyes; a bright disk. Illum
ined by a miniature search-light; and
mirrors, revolved by electric or me
chanical motors, and known as "aiou
ettes," some with single, others with
multiple, disks, vhile still others have
wings like those of a bird, or geomet
rical solids with mirrored surfaces. A
single alouette may hypnotize an en
tire roomful of persons at once, pro
vided all have previously received the
suggestion that the machine will
cause sleep—a condition necessary to
the success of ail mechanical aids.
Another device, the "vibrating cor
onet" of Dr. Gaiffe, consists of three
metal bands which encircle the head
and support branches that vibrate
against the eyelids. Some hypnotists,
we are told, employ a large drawing
of a human eye, on a card, while oth
ers use a combination of magnets, re
lying on the common idea that mag
netism is connected in some way with
the hypnotic sleep. It may often be
necessary to employ makeshifts in
case none of these devices is at hand.
Says Mr. Watkins:
"A candle placed behind an ordi
nary brown or colored bottle is some
times used in lieu of a hypnotic lamp.
The candle flame focuses itself at a
spot on the side of the bottle nearest
the patient, wly> has been given the
suggestion that sleep will result
when, after staring fixedly at this
spot, the light will go out. The candle,
cut short for the purpose, burns itself
out, and the sensitive consequently
falls asleep when there is no longer a
veatige of light in the room."
DEVICE FOR THE INVALID.
Chair Which Instantly Can Be Trans
formed Into a Rocker.
To instantly change a rocking chair
into a wheeling or invalid chair is
made possible by the recent invention
of a California man. An ordinary
rocker is employed, a pair of rubber
tired wheels beins journaled close to
the center of the rockers. When the
The Wheeled Rocker.
device is used as a wheeling chair a
rod attached to the framework is
hooked to the axle of the wheels. To
transform to a rocking chair the lever
is released and the end hooked to the
framework. Those who are entrusted
with the care of invalids will instant
ly appreciate the usefulness of this
combined chair. The invalid will also
recognize the advantages of this sim
ple device.
A Genuine "Trouble" Line.
To avoid a personal conference the
Sliah has had a telephone line built
from his palace to the public square
for the use of subjects having griev
ances to present. When he gets
enough troubles for one day he gives
the "busy" signal. The czar might
profitably employ a few thousand
miles of wire in the same way.
With the arm fully extended, which
is roughly equal to a distance of six
feet between the eye and lens, the ob
ject has its maximum magnification,
though at this distance there is a
slight blurring.
The best way to use the "unilens" is
to sit down and rest the hand holding
the stick on the knee, when the glass
is about four feet distant from the
eye, and the user is able to see ob
jects clearly and sharply.
The lens has the great advantage of
always being in focus and it is a use
ful aid to the natural sight in the ex
amination of hanging pictures, the ar
chitectural features of buildings, and
similar objects. Although the appj}-,
ance is not suited to all sights, three
people out of every four can use the
"unilens" quite satisfactorily,
with good results.